Unchanging Italy

It’s still the same story with Italy. Berlusconi’s still there, all powerful. And worries are still there about an unchanging Italy.

An op-ed from Geoff Andrews, writing for the FT explains why such is the case. Necessarily or not, he lists down the big problems (which all roll into one; read: corruption) facing the EU country and cites two reasons why things still persist: one is the broad reach of the prime minister’s power, built through his media empire and two, the “continual failure to open up Italy’s political system following the “Tangentopoli” corruption crisis of the early 1990s”.

He writes:

The now daily revelations about Silvio Berlusconi’s sex life suggest to many a leader unfit to govern. Yet in the extensive coverage in the international press and the growing condemnation of the Italian prime minister’s behaviour, bigger problems are being missed that go to the heart of Italy’s decline and which will not be remedied solely by his removal from office.